Resident doctors at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Owo, have begun a seven-day warning strike over staffing shortages of medics at the facility, Peoples Gazette can report. 

The action of the doctors, it was learnt, paralysed services at the facility as patients awaiting health care waited long hours without attention.

Rising from its congress on Tuesday, the medics, under the aegis of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) said the shortage of staff at the hospital “is no longer acceptable”.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have again come to the crossroads concerning the issue of burnouts being faced by our members because of the dire shortage of Resident Doctors in Federal Medical Center, Owo,” a part of the communique issued by the association’s  President (ARD-FMC Owo), Olutobi Olaopa read.

The communique further alleged that previous attempts to draw authorities’ attention to their plights “on several occasions were treated with levity.”

“The Entire congress of the Association unanimously resolved that this is no longer acceptable and has made a decision today 16th August 2022 to proceed on a warning strike action that is to commence by Noon of 17th August 2022,” the doctors said.

The development came as the country battles with a brain drain with many Nigerian doctors and nurses travelling overseas following lack of payment of salaries and government care-free attitude to their welfare. 

According to data, most Nigerian doctors now travel to UK and USA for greener pastures to seek a new life for favourable working conditions. 

Speaking to The Gazette in an interview on Wednesday evening, Mr Olaopa said that the welfare package for the residents’ doctors who over-worked themselves at the facility had not been addressed by the hospital authority. 

“We have engaged the management of the hospital officially and unofficially on several occasions. Aside the issue of employment, we also have burning issues like the welfare packages of the doctors,” Mr Olaopa noted.

Mr Olaopa said new doctors have not been employed since 2018 even though many colleagues have left the service.

“We used to have about 250 under the umbrella of the ARD but right now we barely have 80 doctors and this simply means that the work five doctors are supposed to be doing, only one person is doing it in the FMC Owo.”

He said the situation “has become very unbearable.”

“And almost all the time, we do have this problem of physical assault on health workers. It is very rampant in FMC Owo and it is basically because patients do not understand the fact that it is only one person that is attending to them while shuffling the various wards,” he told The Gazette.

The Chief Medical Director of FMC, Owo, Dr Liasu Adeagbo Ahmed, could not be reached for comments as a text message sent to his phone line is yet to be delivered at the time of this report.

In July 2022, the Nigerian Medical Association stated that Ondo was the worst hit of doctors’ brain drain in the South-West owing to non-payment of their salaries, bonuses and other welfare packages. 

Former chairperson of the Association, Stella Adegbehingbe, told journalists that the rate at which medical doctors and other health practitioners were leaving the state medical facility was alarming.